IB
Union Calendar No. 799
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 8915
[Report No. 118–950]
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the expenses treated
as qualified higher education expenses for purposes of 529 accounts
to include additional elementary and secondary school expenses and cer-
tain postsecondary credentialing expenses.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY2, 2024
Mr. H
ERN(for himself, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. COLLINS, and Mr. FINSTAD) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways
and Means
D
ECEMBER24, 2024
Additional sponsors: Mrs. H
OUCHIN, Mr. WILSONof South Carolina, and Mr.
H
ILL
D
ECEMBER24, 2024
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 2, 2024]
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•HR 8915 RH
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand
the expenses treated as qualified higher education ex-
penses for purposes of 529 accounts to include additional
elementary and secondary school expenses and certain
postsecondary credentialing expenses.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Education and Work-4
force Freedom Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL ELEMENTARY, SECONDARY, AND HOME 6
SCHOOL EXPENSES TREATED AS QUALIFIED 7
HIGHER EDUCATION EXPENSES FOR PUR-8
POSES OF 529 ACCOUNTS. 9
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 529(c)(7) of the Internal 10
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 11
‘‘(7) T
REATMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SEC -12
ONDARY TUITION.—Any reference in this section to 13
the term ‘qualified higher education expense’ shall in-14
clude a reference to the following expenses in connec-15
tion with enrollment or attendance at, or for students 16
enrolled at or attending, an elementary or secondary 17
public, private, or religious school: 18
‘‘(A) Tuition. 19
‘‘(B) Curriculum and curricular materials. 20
‘‘(C) Books or other instructional materials. 21
‘‘(D) Online educational materials. 22
‘‘(E) Tuition for tutoring or educational 23
classes outside of the home, including at a tutor-24
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•HR 8915 RH
ing facility, but only if the tutor or instructor is 1
not related to the student and— 2
‘‘(i) is licensed as a teacher in any 3
State, 4
‘‘(ii) has taught at an eligible edu-5
cational institution, or 6
‘‘(iii) is a subject matter expert in the 7
relevant subject. 8
‘‘(F) Fees for a nationally standardized 9
norm-referenced achievement test, an advanced 10
placement examination, or any examinations re-11
lated to college or university admission. 12
‘‘(G) Fees for dual enrollment in an institu-13
tion of higher education. 14
‘‘(H) Educational therapies for students 15
with disabilities provided by a licensed or ac-16
credited practitioner or provider, including occu-17
pational, behavioral, physical, and speech-lan-18
guage therapies. 19
Such term shall include expenses for the purposes de-20
scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (H) in connec-21
tion with a homeschool (whether treated as a 22
homeschool or a private school for purposes of appli-23
cable State law).’’. 24
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(b) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by this 1
section shall apply to distributions made after the date of 2
the enactment of this Act. 3
SEC. 3. CERTAIN POSTSECONDARY CREDENTIALING EX-4
PENSES TREATED AS QUALIFIED HIGHER 5
EDUCATION EXPENSES FOR PURPOSES OF 529 6
ACCOUNTS. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 529(e)(3) of the Internal 8
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 9
the following new subparagraph: 10
‘‘(C) C
ERTAIN POSTSECONDARY 11
CREDENTIALING EXPENSES .—The term ‘qualified 12
higher education expenses’ includes qualified 13
postsecondary credentialing expenses (as defined 14
in subsection (f)).’’. 15
(b) Q
UALIFIEDPOSTSECONDARYCREDENTIALINGEX-16
PENSES.—Section 529 is amended by redesignating sub-17
section (f) as subsection (g) and by inserting after sub-18
section (e) the following new subsection: 19
‘‘(f) Q
UALIFIEDPOSTSECONDARYCREDENTIALINGEX-20
PENSES.—For purposes of this section— 21
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified postsec-22
ondary credentialing expenses’ means— 23
‘‘(A) tuition, fees, books, supplies, and 24
equipment required for the enrollment or attend-25
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•HR 8915 RH
ance of a designated beneficiary in a recognized 1
postsecondary credential program, or any other 2
expense incurred in connection with enrollment 3
in or attendance at a recognized postsecondary 4
credential program if such expense would, if in-5
curred in connection with enrollment or attend-6
ance at an eligible educational institution, be 7
covered under subsection (e)(3)(A), 8
‘‘(B) fees for testing if such testing is re-9
quired to obtain or maintain a recognized post-10
secondary credential, and 11
‘‘(C) fees for continuing education if such 12
education is required to maintain a recognized 13
postsecondary credential. 14
‘‘(2) R
ECOGNIZED POSTSECONDARY CREDENTIAL 15
PROGRAM.—For purposes of this subparagraph, the 16
term ‘recognized postsecondary credential program’ 17
means any program to obtain a recognized postsec-18
ondary credential if— 19
‘‘(A) such program is included on a State 20
list prepared under section 122(d) of the Work-21
force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 22
U.S.C. 3152(d)), 23
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•HR 8915 RH
‘‘(B) such program is listed in the WEAMS 1
Public directory (or successor directory) main-2
tained by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 3
‘‘(C) an examination (developed or admin-4
istered by an organization widely recognized as 5
providing reputable credentials in the occupa-6
tion) is required to obtain or maintain such cre-7
dential and such organization recognizes such 8
program as providing training or education 9
which prepares individuals to take such exam-10
ination, or 11
‘‘(D) such program is identified by the Sec-12
retary, after consultation with the Secretary of 13
Labor, as being a reputable program for obtain-14
ing a recognized postsecondary credential for 15
purposes of this subparagraph. 16
‘‘(3) R
ECOGNIZED POSTSECONDARY CREDEN -17
TIAL.—The term ‘recognized postsecondary credential’ 18
means— 19
‘‘(A) any postsecondary employment creden-20
tial that is industry recognized, including— 21
‘‘(i) any postsecondary employment 22
credential issued by a program that is ac-23
credited by the Institute for Credentialing 24
Excellence, the National Commission on 25
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Certifying Agencies, or the American Na-1
tional Standards Institute, 2
‘‘(ii) any postsecondary employment 3
credential that is included in the 4
Credentialing Opportunities On-Line 5
(COOL) directory of credentialing programs 6
(or successor directory) maintained by the 7
Department of Defense or by any branch of 8
the Armed Services, and 9
‘‘(iii) any postsecondary employment 10
credential identified for purposes of this 11
clause by the Secretary, after consultation 12
with the Secretary of Labor, as being indus-13
try recognized, 14
‘‘(B) any certificate of completion of an ap-15
prenticeship that is registered and certified with 16
the Secretary of Labor under the National Ap-17
prenticeship Act (29 U.S.C. 50), 18
‘‘(C) any occupational or professional li-19
cense issued or recognized by a State or the Fed-20
eral Government (and any certification that sat-21
isfies a condition for obtaining such a license), 22
and 23
‘‘(D) any recognized postsecondary creden-24
tial as defined in section 3(52) of the Workforce 25
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Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 1
3102).’’. 2
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by this 3
section shall apply to distributions made after the date of 4
the enactment of this Act. 5
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kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB Union Calendar No.
799
118
TH
CONGRESS
2
D
S
ESSION
H. R. 8915
[Report No. 118–950]
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to
expand the expenses treated as qualified higher
education expenses for purposes of 529 accounts
to include additional elementary and secondary
school expenses and certain postsecondary
credentialing expenses.
D
ECEMBER
24, 2024
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Dec 27, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H8915.RH H8915
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB